Lost weight, gained fat during Covid (no gym, got lazy). Now back. Recommend a plan?

[bsem2%40mail.com]

Hey everyone. Wanted to turn to the BB community for some advice. Been away from the gym for a year thanks to Covid. I shoulda kept up with home workouts etc, but I didn't. After a year off, I'm skinny-fat and flabby. I've lost weight but gained fat. I'm generally an ectomorph, plus I'm in my mid-40s. BB helped me really figure out how to achieve my goals once upon a time, many years ago. Now I hope it can help me repeat. I feel like I need a new approach. Something that can help me get my muscle back, ideally even gain some, but also burn off all this flab, particularly around the midsection. I've lifted for years, but have always been generally cut at my best physique (i.e. Fight Club) but carried extra weight beyond that usually (roughly 12% bf). Again, I haven't gained weight, I've lost weight. But I have gained fat and lost muscle. That's my problem. Never been in this situation before so I'm a bit unsure of how to proceed. Also, I'm trapped overseas at the moment so I have no access to supplements. But I do finally have a gym now. Any advice? Any good plans to follow for this sort of goal? I appreciate the guidance.

[Heisman2]

Thankfully with muscle memory you should be able to gain muscle back more easily than you gained it in the first place.

Regarding programming following any beginner routine in the stickies should be fine. Regarding nutrition I'd keep protein at least at 0.7 grams per pound and would try to eat at maintenance; you should be in a good position to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. When you stop making strength progression on your lifts then I'd increase the calories by a couple hundred daily.

[Brandon2576]

I’d follow fierce 5 or some other beginner program for a little while

[TolerantLactose]

Your goal isn't very specific. Beyond getting on a novice routine, consistency is key.

[Aguisa92]

Anyone in your position would benefit from body recomposition.

Because you have been away from the gym, you should be able to recomp easily - in fact, studies suggest only 4 weeks of detraining is enough to spur body recomposition (that is insane, I know)

It is the most optimal way of getting back in shape.

In a nutshell, here is how I did it (you can check my before and after pictures on my body space here - https://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/p...hotos/Aguisa92 first half of that transformation was recomp, the second was a cut)

1. Train 4 times per week, simple upper-lower (one day for strength, one day hypertrophy/mass)
2. Protein can be worked out using a calculator (I built my own here and cite the studies I used which you can use: https://www.fitness-savvy.co.uk/prot...mplete-advice/
3. Macros should be higher in fats (about 40% of total calories from good fats) and the rest from carbs
4. Add 10% to maintenance calories on workout days, and deduct 15% for rest days. Your weekly calories should be just below maintenance.

I do have a video series on body recomp, but I don't want to post links here as people tend to accuse me of advertising - even though the video and workout PDF I created is free (and took a hell of a lot of time to put together) lol!

But if you want it, message me and I will send you a link to download the plan I followed for this.

Thanks,
Robin

[Elucid99]

I've been using GroupBeast, there's tons of detailed exercises and workouts on there

[bsem2%40mail.com]

@Aguisa92: I know what ya mean about the advertising accusations. I see that in every field even when people are just trying to help out. Regardless, thanks for the detailed response. I'd be happy to check out the plan if you wanna send it along. I will sub to your YT channel.


Thank to everyone who responded! I'll pursue recomp. Much appreciated.